Sacramento has lovingly embraced a shifting collection of multimillionaires whose money and connections are giving this region a fighting chance to save its pro basketball team. But some suspect these investors are after just one thing in the relationship.

It’s not our economic potential. It’s not our high quality of life. They love us for our NBA franchise.

If the National Basketball Association allows the Sacramento Kings to move to Seattle, some experts say, don’t count on these “whales” sticking around to invest in any downtown revitalization project that might replace the proposed arena at the heart of the city’s bid.

“They’re interested in the franchise. Come on, be honest,” said Christopher Thornberg, a California economist who is following the Kings saga. “I’d like to tell you it’s more than that. But come on.”

Not everyone agrees. Chris Lehane, a national political consultant who has helped lead the drive to keep the Kings, says the investors also care about Sacramento.

“They are basketball fans first and foremost who see an opportunity to create … a sports team that has a special relationship with the community in which it is based,” Lehane said in an email.

Perhaps the richest investor of them all, supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, does have other interests and ties here. Burkle had to withdraw as a potential owner of the team or a new arena, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Monday, because the NBA decided the billionaire had a conflict of interest with a sports management company he owns. But he still will invest in development around the Downtown Plaza site of a new arena, the mayor said.

And Sacramento developer Mark Friedman, who stepped forward as a new major investor this week, brings real estate expertise and a love of Sacramento, Johnson said. It’s unclear how much money he would put into the deal.

“I feel like I was selected in the NBA draft by a winning team,” Friedman told reporters. “The thing that most excites me with this project is the economic development possibility.”

Regardless of what drives them, the investors are focused on the franchise and arena. By taking equity stakes — rather than financing much of the deal, as are their rivals in Seattle — they hope to persuade the league next week to let them join the elite club of owners.

Sacramento’s dream team

You can’t blame these investors for wanting to own a team — there’s a limited supply of NBA franchises. But the psychic rewards may be even more important than the investment potential.

For one thing, owners are thrust into a fun, rock-star world of celebrities, parties and star athletes. Just remember how the Maloof bachelors joyfully sat courtside or hobnobbed with beautiful stars at the Palms, a Las Vegas casino hotel they once owned.

“Why own a team? I’ll tell you why. It’s fun,” Thornberg said.

Some of the investors already are successful as team owners, noted Kevin Nagle, one of the local executives who pledged to kick in $1 million each to help buy the Kings. He’s CEO of Envision Pharmaceuticals and co-owner of the El Dorado Hills Town Center.

Nagle called these big equity investors “the California dream team.”

With Burkle’s departure, the lead investors are TIBCO Software Inc. CEO Vivek Ranadivé and 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov. Ranadivé is part owner of the Golden State Warriors NBA team. And Mastrov made a credible — if unsuccessful — bid for the same franchise in 2010.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs and his two brothers, who make up the rest of the investment team, are said to love basketball. Another brother owns minor-league hockey and baseball teams. Their company also has naming rights to the home of the National Football League’s San Diego Chargers, Qualcomm Stadium, which is owned and operated by the city of San Diego.

So why did Johnson need to round up so many whales — a term coined by the mayor to avoid revealing the identities of the investors — who could counteroffer Seattle’s bid for the Kings?

First, the team that the mayor has assembled — four equity investors, if you include Friedman and count the Jacobs family as one — isn’t large compared to ownership groups of other NBA teams, some of which have a dozen owners.

And supporters of Sacramento’s bid say the more investors behind it, the more impressive it will be to NBA owners who have the final say later this month about the fate of the Sacramento Kings.

“There’s strength in numbers,” Nagle said.

“The more the merrier,” agreed Warren Smith, who helped bring the Sacramento River Cats to town and now leads a group that has purchased a pro soccer franchise that will begin playing in Sacramento next year.

They all made their comments before news broke of Burkle’s withdrawal. The NBA’s decision that Burkle is ineligible to own a team or arena demonstrates the value of starting off with multiple investors. Some whales can peel off in the vetting process or as other business or personal matters arise.

The strength of the pod of whales — yes, that’s what a group of whales is called — comes from each individual‘s wealth, connections and areas of expertise.

Ranadivé, for starters, brings connections with NBA owners, as he is an owner. The Indian-born entrepreneur offers vision and expertise in technology, and he could open doors for the Kings and Sacramento in India and China. He has said he wants to bring basketball to India.

Mastrov “is the inventor of the modern day fitness center and understands how to build a franchise to put fans/customers first,” Lehane said.

“He branded exercise in the minds of virtually every home in the U.S.” Nagle said.

The Jacobs family, meanwhile, “are responsible for some of the most impactful technology inventions,” Lehane said.

Is there a Plan B?

The bid by Sacramento’s adopted whales includes use of very little debt for the arena or the team, according to SportsBusiness Journal. That’s in contrast to the bid by the Seattle group of billionaires — hedge-fund guru Chris Hansen and Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer.

“We will equitize it,” Mastrov said, according to the magazine — a sister publication of the Sacramento Business Journal — after he presented his group’s bid to the NBA in New York last week. He noted that his own business, 24 Hour Fitness, has little debt. “We don’t like debt in my business, and the same will go for the Kings,” he said.

Sacramento is still trying to strengthen its appeal to the NBA, as the April 18-19 meeting of all the league owners quickly approaches. The mayor, Ranadivé and the local investors who have pledged $1 million each toward the bid met on Monday to determine the role that these smaller investors can play.

Dale Carlsen, one of those $1 million investors and CEO of The Sleep Train Inc. mattress chain, said those talks were confidential, but that “it’s all going well.”

No one directly involved in Sacramento’s bid wants to talk about what happens if the NBA does give its blessing to Seattle to take the Kings.

“We’re playing to win,” Nagle said. We want to keep the Kings in Sacramento.”

“There’s not going to be talk about Plan B when you’re pursuing Plan A,” said state Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, who for years has contributed to the effort to get a new downtown arena built.

A few people who are closely following the Kings action, however, addressed the idea of Plan B. There’s disagreement whether Sacramento would try the Kansas City model of building an arena without an NBA franchise. It’s a big gamble, and it is unclear if the community would support such an effort.

While he’s hoping Sacramento can keep the Kings, Warren Smith noted that his soccer group is working to bring a high-level league here that would want a downtown venue.

But that wouldn’t be Sacramento’s only option for revitalization.

With or without basketball — or the whales — Sacramento has tremendous potential as it comes out of a horrendous downturn, economist Thornberg said. If the city puts together a revitalization plan and investors see a way of making money, they’ll jump in.

“It’s clear that Sacramento is ripe for this downtown revitalization,” he said.